


A Lethe Knight’s Journey

by 3chodot



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Game)
Genre: After ‘The Hollow Knight’ ending, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Amnesia, Amputee, Confused tall adult, Gen, Slowly regaining memories, like very slowly, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2019-11-04 18:05:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17902958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3chodot/pseuds/3chodot
Summary: When they awoke, they were falling.Gray rocks rushed past them as they descended, and in seconds their body crashed into the cold stone floor. Their dark body was shot with white-hot pain, and they let out a hoarse cry on impact. They felt as if they could barely move and their head was stuffy as if someone had stuffed it full of cotton.While their body laid prone on the floor, their mind ran at a faster pace than the best stag. They began to question many things. Where were they? Before this they were...they were...they… they couldn’t remember. Anything. Their name, their past, their whereabouts.Nothing.





	1. The Empty Mind

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve reworked this fanfiction about five times now, and I’m forcing myself to post it. Also this is my first fanfic so please don’t persecute me for being a horrible writer.

When they awoke, they were falling.

 

Gray rocks rushed past them as they descended, and in seconds their body crashed into the cold stone floor. Their dark body was shot with white-hot pain, and they let out a hoarse cry on impact. They felt as if they could barely move and their head was stuffy as if someone had stuffed it full of cotton.

 

While their body laid prone on the floor, their mind ran at a faster pace than the best stag. They began to question many things. Where were they? Before this they were...they were...they… they couldn’t remember. Anything. Their name, their past, their whereabouts.

 

Nothing.

 

Rising from the freezing ground, they examined their surroundings to try and gain an understanding of their situation. The walls were covered in the same cold dark rocks that the floor was littered with. Pale white light reflected off the shiny stones and the cold white grass around them. When they tried to touch the grass, it disintegrated under their long fingers. Dust coated all the walls and ground, and it was so thick that it was barely disturbed by their fingers.

 

On the ground next to them a large nail. It was cracked and dirty, clearly hadn’t been cared for in years. The elegant design of it ran down every part of the blade, and it seemed if the blade didn’t have a handle but just a long curved end. They stood in a slouch—standing at full height made it hard to maneuver—and picked up the nail with their arm. Their one arm.

 

One arm…

 

Recoiling, they fell back onto the ground, and let out a squawk of pure panic.

 

How had they lost their memory and their arm?!

 

Swiftly examine the rest of their body, they found that nothing was broken or missing, other than their tattered cloak. Letting out a sigh of relief, they began to examine their cloak and arm, or lack thereof.

 

Their arm was a stump of tangled flesh and clear empty cysts, that were only beginning to heal. It hurt their stomach to look at, so they quickly began to examine their tattered cloak. It was a dark mossy green color and had horribly frayed edges. The fabric felt almost silky soft to their fingertips, and they found themselves just rubbing the cloth between their digits for several minutes. It felt familiar and was the only thing that granted them comfort in this new land.

 

Shaking their head from the silky trance, they went to grab the nail. It was lodged deep into the stone flooring and so removing it was a challenge, but they didn’t care. Finally removing it, they judged it in their hand. It was perfectly balanced, even in its’ broken state. They swung awkwardly with the nail, cutting the air effortlessly, but the weight of the blade made them fall back onto something sharp.

 

Hissing in pain, they got up and look at what they had fallen upon, and found a small, pure white, crest. It had a round chest with three pairs of wings a four-pronged crown. It was light in their hand, and it brought a sense of familiarity with their mind. Flipping it over, there was an inscription that read, ‘The Hollow Knight.’

 

They guessed that it fell with them, so it was probably theirs. Was this their name? Were they a knight? They didn’t feel like a knight, so were they hollow?

 

Hollow. The word resonated with them and felt like their name. If it wasn’t their name before they decided it would be now.

 

Tearing a long thin scrap of fabric from their cloak, and tied it to the crest, creating a makeshift necklace. Tying it around their neck, Hollow grabbed the nail and set off from the hole to find answers.

 

What Hollow believed was an exit, was covered by a layered door filled with cracks. There was no handle, so Hollow pierced through the weak door, and came upon another one. Giving a whole body sigh, they crawled through the small hallway and broke the other door.

 

And found another door!

 

Infuriated, Hollow stabbed through the third door and found a small creature moving swiftly towards them. They reached out their arm to pet the creature and recoiled instantly when a spike of pain shot through them. The creature, ignoring what it had done, turned and began its march to the other side of the room— and another door.

 

Gripping the nail tightly in their hand, Hollow sliced forward at the creature, and tore through the weak shell, killing it instantly. Feeling no remorse for the creature, Hollow broke through the door and crawled out of the cramped space to a slightly larger room.

 

The first thing Hollow noticed, was that there was another door. And another of the small shelled creatures. Hissing under their breath, Hollow cut the creature in two and broke the last door.

 

Working through the cramped space, they entered a much larger room, with shiny glowing bugs inside. They flew gracefully, lighting up the room, and revealing to Hollow another one of the creatures. Killing it swiftly, they began to ascend the rest of the cavern.

 

Grabbing onto each platform, Hollow slowly made their way up through the cave. They climbed over terraces and had to roll out of the way of a loose stalactite. Cursing at their unfortunate luck, Hollow drew their eyes to the glowing sign.

 

Higher begins, these words are for you alone.

 

Your great strength marks you amongst us. Focus your soul and you shall achieve feat of which others can only dream.

 

Noticing their aching hand, Hollow took the advice of the message and tried to focus their soul. It took a few seconds, but when they finally focused, the white shining light around them enter the wound, healing it completely.

 

Their dark eyes widened in astonishment, as they examined their healed appendage. Hollow could barely even tell that their hand had been hurt at all!

 

Feeling a new strength run through their body, Hollow dashed into the next room. Inside was a much larger fly than he had seen before, and it did not glow. Since it was not bothering him, Hollow left alone, but when the fly saw them, it immediately charged towards them.

 

Barely dodging the raging bug, Hollow swung their nail greatly and cut it in half. It’s cry of pain meant nothing to them as it slowly died.

 

Proceeding upwards through the room, Hollow saw another one of the angry flies and struck it dead with their nail before it could attack them. They had to dodge another falling stalactite before they found a small room with light blue butterfly flowers.

 

At the top of the glowing expanse was a large cocoon, pulsing with life, and Hollow swore that they heard a voice in their head say ‘stab it.’ Taking the voices advice,  Hollow punctured the glowing cocoon and watched as two little blue balls of glowing goop skittered around them.

 

Poking one with their nail, Hollow accidentally broke its fragile shell and gasped as its’ body absorbed into their own, giving a layer of protection to them. Feeling a little malevolent, Hollow killed the other bug and felt its’ become one with their own.

 

Continuing, Hollow cake face to face with another spiky-shelled creature and immediately killed it out of spite.

 

Moving forward, Hollow groaned loudly and stabbed through it as well. Inside was a long stretch of corridor that Hollow began slowly crawling through. About halfway through, the weight of their body unbalanced the rocks and smashed under them.

 

Hollow yelped in surprise and pain as their lengthy body smacked into the cold hard ground and slowly got up from the floor. They tried to reach the other nonbroken half of the corridor above them, but even at their full height, they could not reach. Cursing to themselves, Hollow began to take the others way around.

 

There were three platforms suspended above what seemed to be incredibly sharp spikes. Decided not to test their theory on the sharpness, they shakily jumped from one platform to the next. And of course, the weak stalactites tried to pierce their shell as Hollow jumped through.

 

Making it to the other side, Hollow wormed through the small passageway and found rotting wood holding up a thin layer of stone. Easily smashing through the wood with their nail, Hollow sneezed violently as the dust flooded their mask. Shaking of the rest of the dust, Hollow crawled up out of the hole and saw another of the glowing messages.

 

It started the same as the last one, Higher beings, these words are for you alone, but the rest of it was different.

 

Beyond this point, you enter the land of King and Creator. Step across this threshold and obey our laws.

 

Bear witness to the last and only civilization, the eternal Kingdom.

 

Hallownest

 

The name of the kingdom must have struck something deep in Hollow’s mind because they suddenly felt their memory kick into gear. They had lived in Hallownest before, but that was the only thing Hollow could remember. They wished for more information, so Hollow turned to their right and saw a far larger door than they had seen before.

 

It was almost double their size, and in the middle was the same crest as the one upon their neck. Supporting their memory of them living there before. The door had many cracks and even a few holes puncturing its’ stone protection, so it looked easy enough to break like the others.

 

Striking once, they barely left a mark, but determined to find out more about themselves, they struck again and again. By the fifth strike, Hollow could now notice the damage they had inflected and struck with an even greater force than before. Which only managed to break a few more holes into the door.

 

Refusing to give up, Hollow smashed to door four more times, until giving the final stroke that sent the debris of the door flying off the cliff that they found themselves on.

 

Gazing outwards off the cliff, Hollow saw what seemed to be a rather large town, but they could not see anyone inhabiting it. Deciding that this place hopefully had answers on their predicament, Hollow leaped off from the steep cliff and braced for the impact of the hard ground.  

 

Which didn’t work, for when they crashed into the ground, they immediately passed out from the force impact.

  



	2. The Empty Town

When Hollow woke again, they were in darkness. But, slowly as their eyes adjusted to the dark, Hollow found themselves in a chasm of shells. Rising to their knees rapidly, they tried to scramble away from the shells. All of them were different and all dead. What seemed like billions dead under their feet. They couldn’t breathe and were hyperventilating all at the same time. 

Trying to calm themselves, they forcibly slowed their breathing. Hollow stood feebly, their nail acting as a crutch. They gazed at the rest of the chasm, spotting a white light at the top. Hollow tried jumping to the nearest platform but missed it slightly. Readying themselves to try again, they stopped as quiet melody echoed through the ruins.

Then something grabbed their foot. Hollow could barely get a glimpse of the creature before another grabbed their other. Hundreds of inky hands reached through the shells, dragging them downwards. Their panic returned tenfold as they struggled in vain. 

As soon as their feet were dragged under the shells, the strength of the creature increased their efforts vigorously. It pulled them down so quickly, Hollow never had a chance to escape before the shells were up to their torso. It was pulling them down into somewhere familiar but cold; So horribly cold. They didn’t want to know why this place felt close to them if it meant being in this cold. 

Hollow was dragged farther down until only their mask was left. Hundreds of the tiny hands grasped at their horns and pulled harder to draw them under. 

No! They didn’t want the cold. They didn’t want to be here. They didn’t…

They…

No…

No.

No!

One of the inky hands reached farther than the rest and dove straight down into eye socket, pulling them into the icy waters of the abyss.

—

They woke up.

It wasn’t a peaceful awakening, like rising from a nap to the cool air. No, this was a harsh, horrible awakening.

Hollow doubled over, gasping in airless breaths. Each breath they swallowed felt like ice water to a raging fire inside their lungs. Shoving their head down into the cold dirt for support, Hollow grasped their scarred side from the sizzling pain enveloping it.

After a few minutes of heavy heaving, Hollow finally calmed down enough to sit up. Their eyes traveled up to the dark blue sky, filled with hundreds of clouds. Their hand, however, grabbed their silk cloak and rubbed between their fingers. It comforted them more than the cool air or freezing dirt.

They didn’t know why the silk comforted them, maybe it was the repetition, the softness, or the strange familiarity of it. It made them remember small slivers of when they were younger and alone. No one but themselves and the soft comfort of the silk; In quiet white rooms, perfect and pure in every way shape and form.

Hollow shook themselves from their thoughts and stood to full height. Grabbing their nail, Hollow headed towards the shining white lights of a nearby town. 

It was small and mostly empty, but they could see one silhouette standing next to a bench. Near the bug was a few buildings that look if someone inhabited them, but the rest of the town seemed dull and empty. Vast areas of rubble and ruins all of the dark blue stones in the large canyon between the cliff they had fallen from and a steep cliff with a blurry statue atop it. There was debris of what once might have been a bridge was leading towards and past the town.

Entering the town, Hollow was greeted by a small sign with the name of the town. 

Dirtmouth.

It sounded slightly familiar but didn’t strike any major chord of their memory. 

There was a hunched bug, the one Hollow had seen earlier, noticed their long form with a quiet gasp. He wore a baggy dark blue cloak, darker than the stones around the two. He also seemed to be far older than Hollow, but still shorter than themselves. The bug gave a shaky wave at Hollow, clearly weary but trying not to judge others by their appearance.

Hollow, in return, muttered a quiet ‘Hello’ but their voice was hoarse and rough. It felt as if they had once only spoken in screams or not at all. It also seemed that the smaller bug had noticed their horrid voice but didn’t want to comment on it.

“Tea always helps me when I have a sore throat, you should join me for some one day.” The bug offered, then chuckled in an embarrassed timbre. “We don’t even know each other's name, and yet I’ve already invited you for tea. I seem desperate for attention don’t I?” They added.

They shook their head rapidly, Hollow enjoyed their conversation with the bug. But, he did have a good point, neither knew each other’s name. Pulling down their makeshift necklace, Hollow showed the elderly bug the inscribed name on the back, then pointed to themselves when he gave a confused look.

“Is that your name, wanderer?” He asked. 

Hollow gave a quick nod in response.

“The Hollow Knight.” The old bug read the words almost as if he recognized them, then tried again when they covered all the other two words. “Hollow? What a unique name.” He commented. 

“Well, you’ve told me your name, and yet I still I haven’t told you mine.” The bug stated. “You can call me Elderbug.” He finally explained.

Hollow thought Elderbug’s name was unique as well. Had his name always been Elderbug? Even when they were young? Had it been Youngbug once?

Elderbug gestured to the bench next to himself, telling Hollow to have a seat. They obliged and sat on the small metal bench. It was a bit small, but their lengthy body managed to fit. 

When they sat down, Hollow felt restored. Their tired body seemed to heal from all scrapes on their body, except for their stump of a right arm. It didn’t heal or regrow at all, though the carapace around the wound molded back together. 

Turning their head, Hollow noticed to the ancient looking, stone well. The metal arch above it, with curved extremities, held three lights that shone down into whatever laid below. On the arch, there was the same seal Hollow wore on their neck.

Rising from the bench, they walked to the edge of the well and looked down into the darkness it held. Elderbug had followed them, curious about what Hollow was staring at. It was only then that he noticed the similarities between Hollow and the small wanderer who had once visited Dirtmouth. 

Hollow tilted their head and Elderbug and made a questioning grunt. They wanted to know what was down there, and what drew them towards it. 

“You want to know what’s down there?” He asked in return. 

Hollow nodded.

“The dead kingdom of Hallownest lost to the infection.” 

They turned to Elderbug, confusion in every crevice of their body. Elderbug turned back to the well, his friendly eyes turned cold as he glared into the darkness below. It was unsettlingly quiet, and Elderbug had to take a deep breath before he spoke again.

“Many travel down into the once great kingdom.” Elderbug stated, “I’ve only seen a few return.” He added, murmuring.

The silence returned between them, and Hollow began to wonder if they really wanted to enter the kingdom. Grasping the cool metal of the seal on their neck, Hollow steeled themselves for the journey below. They turned to Elderbug snuffing defiantly at them.

Seeing their resolve, Elderbug sighed defeatedly. “If you truly want to venture below, at least once return for tea before you pass.” He requested.

Hollow nodded happily at Elderbug and dropped into the darkness below.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to thank everyone who comment or even read this, because it really motivates me to keep trucking. Thanks everyone!  
> ღゝ◡╹)ノ♡
> 
> (Also I tagged this wrong at first, it’s not exactly a swap au but a post canon au. Sorry!)


	3. The Forgotten Crossroads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hollow begins their journey through Hallownest for answers they don’t know the questions too.

For the first time, in their entire memory, Hollow didn’t crash into the ground. Although there wasn’t much competition, and they hadn’t exactly fallen gracefully. 

But, Hollow couldn't care less about that now. They were in a whole new world. The dark blue-grey stones shimmered lightly from the tiny shiny flies around themselves. Long swirling vines filled with a clear fluid, some with small clear orange bubbles, climbed gracefully over the walls. It was far quieter in here, no harsh winds blowing through their head, but was eerily nice. Hollow did not know why they felt unsettled, but they assumed they would find out soon enough.

To their left, was a hole with a corpse, which Hollow nudged with their nail to make sure they were dead, and a stone with metallic shiny spirals in it. Crouching down low, Hollow barely managed to inspect the ore closer without their horns scraping across the ceiling of the small expanse. For some reason, Hollow was driven by an unknown force to beat the stone with their nail. 

The stone shivered from the hit, shedding some of the metallic ore from itself. Hollow didn’t know what this ore was, but they did know they wanted it. Badly. 

Striking again, the stone coughed up more of the ore, which Hollow greedily picked up and shoved into the expanse under their cloak. And, with a few more strikes, each one becoming more rapid in their greed, the entire rock shattered, leaving just a few more of the shiny ore.

Driven by their newfound motive to explore, and find more of the shiny ore, Hollow moved onto the next room, where they found many platforms held up by rusting chains. They swung gently is the stale wind, creaking quietly. 

A larger stone plate form, above all the hanging ones, was decoratively carved. On its’ side and above it was a similar symbol to the one on their neck. Skittling over it was the same spiked beetle that they had seen in the cliffs. 

Shakily jumping onto the stone bridge, Hollow stabbed their nail straight through the spiked beetle under them. More of the sparkling rocks spilled out from its corpse, and Hollow gently picked them up from the bright orange goop of the beetle’s remained. They shook the goop from the lustrous rocks, tucking them under their cloak once cleaned. 

Hollow continued to the next room, this one had another impossibly small entrance. Hollow had to almost crawl on their stomach to get inside. Thankfully, the actual room was large with a high ceiling. 

The first thing Hollow noticed about the room, other than the increase in space, was an elderly, crying grub, next to almost 50 empty nests. The grub was so caught up in his sobbing that he didn’t even Hollow waving their arms rapidly to get his attention. Eventually Hollow took out their nail, poking the grub gently to get him to finally notice them. 

The elderly grub was still sobbing but calmed down slightly when he saw Hollow. They tilted their head at the old grub, questioning them on why they were crying. In response, the grub gestured to all of the empty nests next to him and pulled out a small piece of the shiny stones Hollow ached for, symbolizing a reward for finding his children. Hollow nodded happily in response to his request and set out to find the grubfather children. 

After crawling back into the larger room with the swinging platforms, Hollow began to navigate their way down through the crossroads. Fluffier beetles skittered all around the platforms, even under them! Hollow watched them for a few long minutes. But, soon enough, Hollow stopped staring in wonderment and traveled further downwards. Much larger flies than the glowing ones ricocheted off walls, some almost hitting Hollow, but they dodged the flies easily.

There was a large hole in the bottom of the room, which Hollow slipped through easily. They dropped down into a smaller room with little platforms to break their fall. On the ground of the room was little scraps of paper that led to a letter saying to meet someone in Dirtmouth for a map. The letter was signed Cornifer, who Hollow guessed was the one who had left the paper here, some with little scribbles of the room they were just in. 

Hollow decided to visit him later, and instead, keep exploring through the crossroads. Further down in the room was a giant pit of spikes with two small platforms above it. They were on the left side of the room, and so Hollow decided to go into the room closes to themselves first. 

Just like all the other rooms, Hollow had to crouch to even get into the room. The first thing they saw when they entered was a large fly struggling to stay above the ground. Its wings were long and stuttering on its dark blue body, and it held a large bubble halfway full of a bright orange liquid. 

It’s mask, with a long pointed nose, stared angrily at them. Then, its long nose curled as it shook rapidly spitting out a hatchling. The small hatchling had the same long wings as it’s the mother, but their lower half was small and mutated, like as if it had been forced out early. It gurgled out a yell in aggression as it charged towards them. Hollow struck it, killing it easily, but felt pity for the child only being born to attack them.

Turning their attention to the mother, Hollow stabbed and killed her with two more of the children crawling from her corpse. They stomped on the two, putting them out of their misery of losing a mother. 

Continuing, Hollow had to jump over a small pit filled with hissing and bubbling neon on green acid. In front of them was another one of the giant fly mothers, (or whatever they were called, Hollow didn’t care at the moment) and her body shuddered as she spits out one of the children warriors. Hollow’s nail easily slashed through the mother of the children and even easier on said children.

They turned away from the carnage and saw a large jar holding a crying grub. Jumping up onto the ledge where the jar was, Hollow smashed the glass with the brunt of their nail, releasing the now gleeful grub. The grub happily nodded in thanks and then dug themselves out of the room.

Seeing that it was the end of the room, Hollow turned back and headed towards the exit of the room to explore more of the crossroads and the secrets it bares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long amount of time per chapter, school has been stressful, but I definitely plan on finishing this. Also again, thank you all so much for the encouraging comments!


End file.
